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My criteria for selecting these pitchers are fairly straight forward. All of these pitchers are on teams that are in 4th or 5th place and essentially not going to compete this year, none of them are from the AL East, and none of them are going to break the bank. Furthermore, none of these guys are their teams best prospects, none of these guys should be unavailable. Scott Diamond Minn. Kevin Correia Minn. Jerome Williams AngelsBud Norris Hou.Lucas Harrell Hou.Jonathan Niese NYMKevin Slowey MarlinsCarlos Villanueva ChiC.Travis Wood ChiC.

Any of these guys would be an upgrade on our 3-5 starters. If I were a contending GM that was short on pitching, a trade for one or two of these pitchers would be high on my priority list. Other than Gausman and Bundy we have nothing in the minors......

OK. What are we parting with to acquire any of these arms? Remember the major league club and Minors aren't exactly brimming with talent. Also like it or not we part with Arrieta or Matusz (both still capable of starting) we are filling a hole while creating a new one.

The short answer is anyone in the minors not named Bundy should be available. Growing arms as some have suggested has netted us very little over the last 30 years. Hopefully Gausman and Bundy can change that trend.

dan72 wrote:My criteria for selecting these pitchers are fairly straight forward. All of these pitchers are on teams that are in 4th or 5th place and essentially not going to compete this year, none of them are from the AL East, and none of them are going to break the bank. Furthermore, none of these guys are their teams best prospects, none of these guys should be unavailable. Scott Diamond Minn. Kevin Correia Minn. Jerome Williams AngelsBud Norris Hou.Lucas Harrell Hou.Jonathan Niese NYMKevin Slowey MarlinsCarlos Villanueva ChiC.Travis Wood ChiC.

Any of these guys would be an upgrade on our 3-5 starters. If I were a contending GM that was short on pitching, a trade for one or two of these pitchers would be high on my priority list. Other than Gausman and Bundy we have nothing in the minors......

Most are bums on this list. Diamond is okay but I don't see the Twins moving a young, controllable guy. The only other guy who would interest me is Norris and he will be pricey

-I'm not sure Slowey, Correia, Williams, Edison Volquez, and Clayton Richard are worth trading for.-Wood, Diamond, and Niese probably aren't available. They are all young and controllable.-Villanueva, Harrell, and Norris are all solid, but I'd have to see a trade proposal.

osforlife wrote:Villanueva, Harrell, and Norris are all solid, but I'd have to see a trade proposal.

Clearly: Gausman, Bundy, Schoop, Urrutia, and Rodriguez SHOULD be untouchable. Tim Berry and Mike Wright should be traded ONLY when it would be more than a rental. After that there may not be a lot in our farm system that would attract other teams.

I think that the pitchers you named above will cost more than we have to (and should) spend.

The Pirates seem to fade every year. Burnett has been an ace in Pittsburgh but remember how average he was in the AL east pitching for the Yankees.I agree that he would be a nice addition, but expect all his numbers to decline as the level of play increases. I like Cliff Lee better but his contract is huge and he is not a young guy.... I also agree that Hoes and Avery are very expendable.

mikezpen wrote:How about AJ Burnett if Pirates slip out of contention later?

I honestly believe that there's a better than 50/50 chance that what we have in the system now is what we will finish the season with. Because we have such a limited number of legit prospects in our system I don't think DD will be foolish enough to mortgage the future on SPs (or other players) that really aren't any better that what we already have or are just rentals.

I could see trades like the one suggested for Dustin Ackley or, IF in mid July it looks like we aren't going anywhere, I could see us trading Hardy and Jim Johnson in an effort to build a winner. I just don't see Schoop or some of the others wasted on a futile effort to stumble into the playoffs UNLESS the pitching starts to straighten up.